Fortress (chess)
Defensive technique in chess / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In chess, a fortress is an endgame drawing technique in which the side behind in material sets up a zone of protection that the opponent cannot penetrate. This might involve keeping the enemy king out of one's position, or a zone the enemy cannot force one out of (e.g. see the opposite-colored bishops example). An elementary fortress is a theoretically drawn (i.e. a book draw) position with reduced material in which a passive defense will maintain the draw.[1]
Fortresses commonly have the following characteristics:
- Useful pawn breakthroughs are not possible.
- If the stronger side has pawns, they are firmly blocked.
- The stronger side's king cannot penetrate because it is either cut off or near the edge of the board.
- Zugzwang positions cannot be forced because the defender has waiting moves available.[2]
Fortresses pose a problem for computer chess: computers fail to recognize fortress-type positions and are unable to achieve the win against them despite claiming a winning advantage.[3]